Tourism

New Paris Tourism Event

Chefs 'Cook for Ireland'

An estimated five million people across the United States tuned in to see celebrity chef Catherine Fulvio on the 'Today Show', the daily morning television show on NBC.

Catherine Fulvio (second left) is pictured with the show’s hosts Tamron Hall, Al Roker and Willie Geist.

01fulvio Tourism Ireland in New York arranged for Catherine Fulvio to appear on the hugely popular programme, to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and to highlight our world-class food. During her time in New York, Catherine also prepared lunch for some of the top culinary and food journalists in New York, at an event organised by Tourism Ireland in conjunction with Kerrygold.

Tourism Ireland also sponsored Clodagh McKenna’s TV series which aired on PBS (the Public Broadcasting Service) across the US. Other ‘ambassador’ chefs from the island of Ireland who were in the US over the St Patrick’s Day period included Neven Maguire (who appeared on QVC, the popular home shopping channel), Rachel Allen, Kevin Dundon, Derry Clarke, Noel McMeel (of Lough Erne Resort in Co Fermanagh) and Ian Orr (of Brown’s restaurant in Derry).

Magazine Publisher Closes

The company which published 'Hotel and Catering Review' and 'Licensing World' trade magazines ceased trading yesterday.

Employees of Jemma Publications Ltd were told that a liquidataor is to be appointed.

Founded in 1971 by Frank Grennan, the company published a range of specialist trade magazines over the years and previously had operations in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

'Hotel and Catering Review' was the leading trade publication in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years and organised the Gilbeys Gold Medal Awards later known as the 'Hotel and Catering Review Gold Medal Awards'. A few weeks ago it announced a new awards scheme for young hospitality managers.

Jemma Publications was also instrumental in the establishment of the Hospitality Trust.

Frank Grennan became chairman of the company some years ago and was succeeded as managing director by his son Simon. His daughter Sarah was editor of 'Hotel and Catering Review'.

Tourism Upturn Welcomed

Minister Leo Varadkar, Tourism Ireland and the IHF have all welcomed growth in the number of holidaymakers and business people who travelled to Ireland last year, as revealed by new CSO figures.

While the overall number of visits to Ireland held steady last year, the number of core tourism visits grew strongly with holiday trips up 3.8% and business trips up by 7.7% in 2012. By comparison, visits to friends and relatives in Ireland were down by 7.9%.

Spending by visitors to Ireland also increased by 4.5% last year to €3.68 billion, with particularly strong growth in expenditure by holiday visitors from North America-up 10% to €519 million and from other long-haul areas- up 11% to €142 million.

Although overall bednights fell by 4.7% to 47,942,000 – individual nights spent in any type of accommodation in Ireland – the hotel sector itself saw a boost in bednights, while fewer visitors opted to stay with friends or relatives. The number of hotel bednights grew by 13% to 14,180,000 in 2012, while those staying with friends or relatives fell 9.8% to 13,331,000. The number of bednights also increased for all types of serviced accommodation (guest houses, B&Bs and hotels) for visitors from North America and other long-haul markets.